Kampala — The GroFin Africa Fund (GAF) has created over 2,000 small-and-medium enterprise jobs in the various sectors of the economy. The sectors range from manufacturing to retail and services in Africa, a report released recently said.

GroFin, a multi-national specialist SME finance and development company, created GAF under two years ago targeting start-up and growth opportunities in small and medium enterprises in Africa

Jurie Willemse, the managing director of GroFin, said in a statement that by supporting SMEs, a previously overlooked asset class, GroFin was arming entrepreneurs with the skills to sustain their business in years to come.

"We are not only building successful businesses, but developing communities and economies in the process. This report illustrates the developmental success of our unique business model that integrates risk finance with business development assistance to mitigate investment risk and enables skills transfer to the entrepreneur," he stated.

The growth finance fund, which was closed at $170m in August last year, will be invested in roughly 500 companies over a period of five years. The fund invests between $100,000 and $1m in SMEs in various sectors.